EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER SERVICE

1. Preventing problems from happening in the first place, and making problems not seem like problems by being so damn nice and polite.
2. Making the customer believe that you are the ultimate company on the planet to buy stuff from, not just another company that sells stuff.
3. Rewarding the customer JUST FOR BEING A CUSTOMER. Not only do flattered and nurtured customers pay their invoices faster, they buy more stuff on a continuing basis. It even means rewarding prospects just for showing an interest in the stuff you sell.
4. Spending money on your customers after they spend money on you. Devote a certain percentage of the profits from each sale into an immediate re-investment in your customer. Have you ever tried the "Dollar Letter"? This is a salesletter with a dollar bill stapled to the top of it. Near the start of the letter you say something to the effect that since the person is one of your customers, that he or she is someone who deserves to receive $1 because they know how to spend their money wisely. Send this letter out 2 weeks after you fill the customer's order. Personalize the letter so that the date and the person's address appear on the letter. Let them know that you know exactly what they bought and how much they spent and that you want them to let you know if you can do anything to help them get the most out of what they've bought from you. Heck, if your gross profit on the sale was $100 or more, TRY A $5 BILL.

The whole key to understanding the importance of exceptional customer service is to understand something else first:
TURNING HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE INTO ONE-TIME CUSTOMERS MAY NOT EVEN BE ENOUGH TO SURVIVE, NEVER MIND THRIVE!
It's not enough to receive lots of praise and very little abuse from customers. You need to understand the reasons why even a satisfied customer may drift away from you, leaving you without the repeat business you need. Most companies accept customer loss as a fact of life.

According to a study cited in Secrets Of The Lost Art Of Common Sense Marketing by the Antin Brothers (see page 7), about two thirds of the people that buy from you once but don't give you repeat business, aren't upset with you. They just don't believe that you care about them. You let them forget you. You didn't make them feel any better than a host of other businesses made them feel.

To quote the Antins, "It's impossible to do too much for your customers ... but you should always try! You want to make doing business with you entertaining ... you want them to look forward to it".

There are obvious things you can do, like calling your customers by name, answering the phone promptly and cheerfully, and really having an honest desire to fill the needs of your customers. But like I said, that's obvious. Do things that you don't "need" to do for your customers (and soon you will discover that you DO NEED to do them, because after all, you do want some of your happy customer's money in your pocket at the end of the day). McDonalds' restaurants aren't just places to eat. They're entertaining commercials, playgrounds for the kids, and a place to get toys - in addition to providing the same "benefits" as any other monosodium glutamate infested wormburger factory. (Just kidding about the worm reference - please don't sue me, Mr. Croc). Video stores give away free popcorn.

There is an initial cost for giving these perks to your customers and future customers. But the repeat business (and first-time business) that you will generate will more than make up for this. That is, unless you do something that just doesn't make sense. But it isn't that hard to figure out how to entertain your customers at the same time that you're showing them how great it would be to buy some stuff from you.

Do you know what Gary Halbert does to get new subscribers to his marketing letter? I was one of 7500 fortunate people who received a free ton of marketing advice from him over about a 5 month period. I never asked for it. He started off with a "Dollar letter". This made his name stick in my mind - nobody had ever sent me a dollar before, unless I earned it. But Gary wanted my attention - and he got it. There was also a free newsletter and a promise that I would be getting a bunch of free back issues.

Remember, I never asked for it.

I'd never heard of Gary before, much less written or called him. Soon, a huge envelope full of back issues came. Over the next few months I received each monthly issue. Some other special offers came during that time, plus a separate letter where Gary spilled his guts about some very personal aspects of his life. His newsletters were of a phenomenal quality. He wasn't just saying the same old crap that everyone says. His advice was truly modern, truly exceptional. Everything was mailed first class. He gave story after story about the millions of dollars of business he has generated by designing advertising for other businesses.

The final contact was an offer to spend an awful lot of money on a collection of videos and book-type products etc. drawn from one of Gary's seminars. It contained nice big pictures to prove that, yes, Gary is a real person and so are his millionaire buddies who have spilled their guts to provide you with all of their marketing wisdom. Needless to say, the only thing going through the recipient's mind at this point, if he or she has a brain in their head and is indeed interested in making money, is "I need to buy more marketing advice from this guy. Let me see if I have enough money to buy it". Then came the telemarketing follow-up from one of his sales reps. I asked him some questions and he said that using this blitzing technique, about 30% of the 7500 people contacted would buy a 1-year subscription for $195 or a 2- year subscription for $390. Let's look at the numbers. 30% of 7500 is 2250. 2250 times $195 is $438,750 in Gary's pocket. The real figure is even higher because some people bought the 2-year subscription. His investment was probably less than $20 per prospect including the cost of the names, printing, postage, and follow-up phone call (if necessary), a total of $150,000. Even if he paid $100,000 in salaries to employees during that time, you can see how much money is being made. And let's not forget all the books, videos and tapes he sold in the meantime. And that's small potatoes (how DOES one spell "potato(e)", anyway?) compared to his seminars, which cost several thousand dollars to attend. Anyway, enough about Gary. I believe I've made my point about how to make a prospect think the world of you. When you create a good feeling towards you in your prospects' minds, they will PAY to MAINTAIN that good feeling. But most companies don't create a good feeling in the first place. Instead, they make an offer and ask for money right off the bat before the prospect has any tangible evidence that the company gives a damn about them. And now, onward to a crucial fact that I hope you will take to heart ...
IT COSTS A LOT MORE TO DEVELOP A CUSTOMER THAN IT DOES TO KEEP ONE THAT YOU ALREADY HAVE

Your advertising is expensive. You pay for each inquirer. Then you pay again when you contact them and try to make a sale. Some of these people don't become customers. So if it's cheaper to get money out of old customers than new ones, then I'd say that you have to start worrying about ...

WHAT TO DO AFTER YOUR CUSTOMER BUYS

You must not abandon your customers. Tell them that you want to make sure that they're getting the best use out of what they've bought from you. Remind them that their buying decision was a wise one and also remind them of the benefits of what they have bought.

DON'T LET YOUR CUSTOMERS CONVINCE THEMSELVES THAT YOU DON'T CARE OR THAT THEY HAVE MADE A BAD DECISION

The reassurance letter is a chance to sell more stuff. It is a tool which you can use to reduce refunds and exchanges. Future sales will increase as you elevate your buyers' confidence in you. If you are shipping the order in a manner that will take a few days to reach the customer, or if the order is partially or entirely on back-order, then send a pre-reassurance letter out the day you receive the order, telling the customer exactly what is going on. If the order is big enough to justify the added expense, send the pre- reassurance letter by Federal Express or special delivery.

The message of this chapter is: 1) Respect your customers and inquirers and 2) make yourself unforgettable to them. Sure you've heard that advice before, but I'm going to show you why you'll miss out on a lot of money if you don't follow it.

THE BENEFITS OF BEING GENEROUS, PROMPT AND POLITE

Don't make the mistake of saying to yourself "This sucker has already paid me, so what does it matter if I send him a piece of junk? Almost nobody bothers sending stuff back for a refund anyway". You will not obtain repeat business from anyone, and the negative publicity will eat you alive. If you're selling anything right now that you don't believe in, you're probably losing money on it. DROP THOSE OFFERS RIGHT NOW! If the only things you've been selling are things you don't believe in, then drop everything and start all over again.

You need more than just the business generated by advertising and direct marketing. You need the respect of your customers, which leads to referrals. You need to produce a quality product so you will receive free positive reviews from well respected columnists. You need the pride which leads to relentless marketing.

Proper etiquette should permeate your business. Upon first contact, tell inquirers that you are glad to hear from them and look forward to doing business with them. Do this in a personal letter that talks briefly about a couple of your leading offers. You might include a time-limited special and a toll-free ordering number - every little bit helps. When this person becomes a buyer, thank them and insist that they keep you informed as to how they're coming along with whatever they're doing. Also tell them to call you if there are any questions or problems with the product or service.

Do everything you can to make the person family. Maintain your profit margin, but at the same time be generous - it always pays off. Mailing list brokers can give away extra names with every order. Book clubs can offer discounts to members only. Publishers can give away a 2" ad to everyone buying a 5x7" ad.

Good service turns one-time buyers into multiple buyers. Multiple buyers are essential for the sale of basic products and services.

SPECIAL PROJECTS - WHEELING AND DEALING

In a previous chapter I mentioned that to build a following and make the most money possible you should start developing your own products. Now I'm going to go one step further. Let's say you've written 5 books. That's enough offers to make a potential profit all by yourself, just by advertising and mailing out salesletters to inquirers and working your in- house list, right? Well, maybe not. You probably still need to do some wheeling and dealing with other dealers to minimize your marketing expenses and maximize profit potential. You could, for example, trade off a couple hundred copies of your books for someone else's, thereby expanding your product line. You can get someone else to mail out your circulars if you'll mail their's. And communications with wholesalers, catalog houses, libraries, distributors and dealers is the most important wheeling and dealing you'll ever do. If they contact you as a result of seeing your ad, it may well wipe out any loss you may have taken from that ad.

Don't try to sell something to a Big Name Dealer (BND). BNDs have heard every sales pitch in the book. Your proposal should be a short and very clear description of what you want and what you are willing to give in return. And you should always give more than you get.

When doing regular business it's right to ask yourself whether or not you should send those extra few sheets and increase your mailing cost; whether or not you want to go first class or bulk, and so on. But where special projects are concerned, you will always go first class. And always send whatever it takes to do your best to convince the recipient to consider your proposal. Be sure to personalize each letter. Special projects will usually involve mailing to a small list of people, such as direct marketing experts, people that can give you free publicity, catalog houses, your 20 highest paying customers, publishers, or any specialized group of people you need to get in contact with. You will do whatever it takes to get what you want from these target groups. Within reason, send free samples of any products which might be involved in the deal you are trying to close.

You might wish to embark on a special project when ...

• you need to request discount rates from publishers to create an advertising special for your customers
• you are creating a major product and need the assistance of various experts
• you want some expert comments, criticisms, and testimonials for a new book you've written before marketing it
• you're trying to sell your product to mail order catalog houses
• you want free publicity (which is always) in the form of articles or press releases

OTHER PEOPLE'S PROJECTS

THE UNEXPECTED BENEFITS OF WHEELING AND DEALING

A network of business friends is a great boon to anyone marketing anything. Stay in business long enough and you'll understand how the BNDs (big name dealers) have ways of making and saving money that go beyond simple marketing techniques. But don't just let it happen. Make it happen. Make friends early, deal honestly with them, and be generous.